What Delaware’s tech ecosystem can learn from Birmingham

When Birmingham Bound, an Alabama tech economic development organization, held an event at SXSW 2024, some people didn’t know what to create.

“People thought we were from the UK,” Birmingham Bound president Maria Underwood told a Technical.ly Builder’s Conference panel. “It made more sense to them that we’re at SXSW in Birmingham UK than in Alabama.”

It was an evolution that the city of the emerging tech ecosystem, nicknamed the “Magic City,” took, and by all accounts it was a success. With Birmingham Bound and another BirminghamTech organization having a presence at Philly Tech Week’s Builder’s Conference last month, parallels between the Deep South city and our own small tech ecosystem in Delaware became even more clear.

Small ecosystems are different from large ones. It’s something Technical.ly sees every day — the Delaware market can’t be treated the same as Philadelphia or DC, cities with more access to VC funding and larger pipelines of tech and entrepreneurs.

But it can be treated like Birmingham. And ecosystems like Delaware and Birmingham are the future of technology, if not its present: Tech ecosystems are in all our backyards, including small and medium-sized cities across the country.

Delaware’s largest city, Wilmington, is too small at 70,000 to be an ecosystem in its own right without including Newark and, increasingly, downstate. We have organizations similar to Birmingham Bound and BirminghamTech, such as the Delaware Prosperity Partnership and the Tech Council of Delaware, the latter also having a Attendance at the Builders Conference.

These emerging ecosystems can learn from each other. Here are some tips from the Birmingham Builders Conference that may apply in Delaware:

Every business owner is an entrepreneur

In large tech ecosystems, the word entrepreneur is often associated with software — even though the popular “Shark Tank” uses it to mean something closer to consumer gadget or inventor. Conversely, small towns may overlook software technology when creating small business resources, leading to tech entrepreneurs leaving.

“We’re too small to say we’re going to support brick-and-mortar small businesses and not the small startup entrepreneur,” Underwood said. “All business owners are entrepreneurs – they generate more resources for everyone.”

VC is not everything

One of the challenges of small ecosystems is that venture capital funding is simply not as widespread as in big cities. Alternatives include government grants, crowdfunding and creative.

“There is a founder (Birmingham) who is making an evolution in the child care industry,” Underwood said. “Instead of finding VC partners, she started a group called Founding Mothers. Any mother who comes in with $10,000 or more gets free childcare in her system for a year.”

Embrace who you are not Silicon Valley

Tech ecosystems need not look to the Big Tech model, for several reasons. It is less inclusive than some smaller ecosystems (including both Delaware and Birmingham) and the culture can be more toxic.

“Something is broken in the tech ecosystem in general, where if you’re an entrepreneur, you have to eat, sleep and die for your company or you’re going to fail,” Underwood said. “What we’re trying to do when we bring people to Birmingham is show them how they’re going to like starting their business here, but also how they’re going to like living here.”

Show people exactly why they’ll love your little ecosystem

One of the known problems with Delaware’s tech ecosystem is that outsiders know very little about what the state is like, giving it a reputation for being nowhere with nothing to do. A “cool” image is necessary when trying to attract entrepreneurs and tech talent.

Birmingham Bound, Underwood said, will customize tours for people interested in moving to the city. For example, after an intake form noted that an entrepreneur can’t live without good coffee, they arranged a coffee tour of the city. They highlight things like hiking trails along with resources for business owners.

Embrace your history, even if it’s difficult

In a flash discussion, BirminghamTech President Deontée Gordon noted one of his city’s challenges.

“Birmingham is unique because a lot of people think our main export is racism,” he said.

Instead of hiding from the dark aspects of Alabama’s history, Gordon embraces Birmingham’s legacy in the Civil Rights Movement and sees it as a badge of honor. Although Delaware’s place in civil rights history is Less famousthis can also apply here.